By
SEAN FORD

Lifestyles free but not easy

Australians live in a country with one of the greatest levels of economic freedom in the world.

According to the Canadian Fraser Institute, Australia and Canada are tied for fifth.

In the institute's Economic Freedom of the World: 2012 Annual Report, Australia and Canada came in behind Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland, in that order.

It is telling that all those countries have extremely high living standards and suffer somewhat less than is usual from the stifling hand of the government interfering in residents' lives and economic affairs.

It was fascinating and sad to note the US, where the government is, increasingly, your mother, has plunged to a lowest-ever 18th in the rankings after being rated No.2 in 2000.

High government spending is behind much of the decline, according to the institute.

It makes sense.

The more of other people's money governments take and churn - generally in a far less efficient way than individuals or companies would use the money - the less economic freedom people and companies in those countries have.

Among key countries for Australia, Japan came in at 20, South Korea at 37, China at 107 and India at 111.

European powerhouse Germany was at 31, France at 47 and Brazil at 105.

The Fraser Institute measures economic freedom based on five factors:

Size of government (the smaller the better).

Legal system and property rights.

Access to "sound money".

Freedom to trade internationally.

Regulation of credit, labour and business.

Fraser Institute vice-president of international policy research Frank McMahon said the following about Canada when the report was released:

"Canada's relatively high level of economic freedom has resulted in stronger economic growth, higher income levels and less pain from the global recession."

He could have been speaking about Australia, although it should be noted both countries are resource-rich.

The report said nations that were economically free outperformed those that were not in "indicators of well-being".

Among other things, it found the top quarter of nations for economic freedom had average per capita gross domestic product more than seven times that of the bottom quarter.

The average income of the poorest 10 per cent of residents in the top quarter of countries was more than nine times that of the poorest 10 per cent in the bottom quarter of countries for economic freedom.

Life expectancy in the top quarter was 79.5 years, and 61.6 years in the bottom quarter.

Pretty compelling stuff.

We must be on our guard to retain and grow our freedom to manage our own affairs.